More Than Ever
by Jane Glass
Summary: Albedo finds himself in a bad situation when he gets into trouble and is saved by none other than Ben 10, who doesn't even know it's Albedo he's saving. But what happens when Ben decides to offer Albedo freedom and a chance to change? (redemption fic. Warnings: Violence)
1. More Than Ever

**More Than Ever**

 **AN: I have literally been off and on writing this for possibly a year, and uh, I thought I'd throw this one out while I try to get the next chapter of Escape out. It's a little AU and maybe a bit OOC, but because of the situation mostly. So it's situational-out-of-characterness. And it might have some errors and typos and stuff. Sorry.  
**

 **Let me know what you think! I have some other Albedo stories too that I'm thinking about posting. :)**

 **One-shot for now. ^^ Might change if people ask.**

* * *

The sun had just began setting, but Albedo found himself already missing it's warmth as he pulled his black hooded-coat closer to him to keep it from whipping around in the cold wind. He could have just zipped the thing up, if it weren't broken, but he supposed beggars really couldn't be choosers. And he had been reduced to nothing more than a beggar on the streets of Bellwood, so he would know. Albedo would take anything he could get, at this point.

He shivered as the air hit his face, and he suddenly wished he hadn't cut some of his hair back with the scissors he'd found last week. He should just let it grow out, but it was already below his chin in some places.

He continued down the sidewalk until he reached a store that people were exiting from. He could go that way, since nobody knew who he was these days-not wearing a red jacket and showing off his weird hair and eyes helped-but he'd rather not have to face people at all. He didn't want to see the confusion, pity, or sadness in their eyes when they saw him. He didn't want to wonder what he looked like in their eyes.

Albedo turned and headed down the alley by the store instead, knowing that he'd rather face a stray dog or cat any day.

When he turned at the end of the alley to go left and continue his path, however, he didn't expect to see what he saw. At that moment he almost wish he'd gone the other way.

Standing just around the corner and right in front of him were five young men, all tough and burly. They were a trashy lot, too.

Albedo liked this better, though. He preferred a fight to pity any day. So he stood tall and ready, hoping his trashy hooded-coat, bloodied but bandaged right knee and torn black T-shirt made him look tougher, too. They'd be pretty much even, then, probably.

Albedo learned a long time ago, that just because someone looked weak, didn't mean they were, and the same could be said about someone who looked tough. So he wasn't scared as he watched them whisper to each other and laugh. They were trying-and failing-to scare him.

"Well," one of them began with a huge smirk, "Look what we found."

Albedo gritted his teeth, but tried to hide it. He knew that any emotion looked weak, and the strongest look would be to remain emotionless. Presentaion is important.

Another one smiled as he said, "What say we see what he's got on him?"

Albedo wondered what they'd hope to find, but didn't say anything. Surely they couldn't all be blind, though? He looked homeless, and in fact, was.

Suddenly both of the men, along with the other men, moved aside and a Necrofriggian walked forward. Albedo shivered at just the sight, and realized what they had in mind as he started backing away. It was cold enough without an alien like that.

The men quickly caught his arms and held him still though. Another man held his back in place, and the alien approached him until he was standing a few feet from Albedo. Albedo felt another shiver run down his spine, but not because of the cold, this time.

The Necrofriggian looked down and blew ice onto the ground around Albedo, slowly blowing the ice onto his legs as well. Albedo bit his lip at the coldness wrapping around his feet and legs, trying hard to hold back a whimper as he continued struggling to get free.

"Hey," they heard another person speak, "Didn't anyone ever tell you to pick on someone your own size?"

If the mock in the alien's voice, and his choice of words weren't enough, then Albedo still would have seen the Omnitrix symbol on the Methanosian's chest. It was Ben 10, or rather 'Swampfire', and he probably didn't know it was Albedo being held and about to be searched for every last thing that was worth something on him.

The men glare at Swampfire, and the Necrofriggian stops at Albedo's waist to face the other alien too, "Well," the Necrofriggian said, "We'll just pick on you, then."

Swampfire jumped towards the group, knocking the men down, but the Necrofriggian quickly blew ice at him, attempting the freeze him completely. Swampfire shot fire from his hands and onto the ice with a laugh, "Really? That the best you've got?"

The Necrofriggian gritted his teeth and jumped back, creating distance between itself and Swampfire, "I'm just getting started."

By then, the men were getting up. Swampfire turned to them quickly and muttered something about not having Rook with him before shooting vines toward the men and wrapping them up.

He turns back to the alien in time to get ice daggers shot through him, but his vines regrow. Enraged, the Necrofriggian flew up and past Swampfire, then froze a car quickly before throwing it back over at Swampfire.

Swampfire ducked, and the car missed him and almost hit Albedo instead, crashing into the alleyway and into the ice wrapped around Albedo, knocking Albedo free and into the stone wall behind him, but the ice cut into his lower thigh, making it hard to run, even if he wanted to.

The Necrofriggian froze and threw several more cars their way. Finally one hit Swampfire, but didn't injure him and he quickly ran forward to try to throw his vines around the Necrofriggian.

While the battle raged on, Albedo gritted his teeth as blood ran down his leg. He cursed under his breath when the Necrofriggian threw more ice daggers at Swampfire, and missed. The ice daggers flew at Albedo and he quickly move to dodge them. Luckily none of the daggers injured him badly, but one of them had the neck of Albedo's coat pinned to the wall-thankfully it missed his neck-and another had grazed his side and pinned him to the wall there too.

The Necrofriggian was about to freeze another car when Swampfire jumped and landed on him, then he quickly tied his vines around him to hold him still. Swampfire sighed in relief as Plumber trucks appeared on the road outside the ally, "I'd say that was a fair fight, but you should have had more than five people with you."

Swampfire turned and noticed the hooded boy now. He walked over as several beeps marked the end of his transformation.

Ben gritted his teeth at the sight of blood, and he began searching his aliens, but the Omnitrix wouldn't allow him to transform again. He walked over and crouched down to look at the places where ice pinned him to the wall, "Ew..." he muttered under his breath at the injuries, "That must hurt..."

Albedo wanted nothing else but to run. Ben 10 was so close to knowing it was him. He pulled the ice dagger out of his side where it'd grazed him, holding back a whimper of pain. The one that caught his hood was stuck in the wall, though, so he pulled harder on that one, but then Ben push his left coat sleeve off his shoulder and off his arm, "It'll be easier to just take off the coat for now. You need medical attention."

And then...Ben 'helped' pull Albedo's hood down.

Confused bright green eyes met fearful red ones.

"Albedo?" Ben asked after several minutes of silence. Albedo glanced away for a moment, but finally turned back to Ben. There was nothing to say. He'd try to get the Omnitrix so hard that he nearly killed others to achieve his goal, and now he just wished he could make a time machine. He didn't want to fight anymore.

Ben sighed quietly and leaned forward to push Albedo's coat off the rest of the way before he stood and moved aside for a Plumber medical crew to walk over.

Albedo watched Ben as the medics put him up on a medical bed they'd rolled over.

He couldn't help but wonder what would happen to him after he was taken care of and bandaged. Would they send him back to a Plumber prison cell? Or did these Plumber medics not know or care about him? No, surely Ben would tell everyone about him...

Ben said something to one of the medics after a moment, and Albedo couldn't tell what he said, but he knew it probably had something to do with why that same medic put a syringe to his arm.

Within seconds things were blurry and Albedo could only hear them speaking, but not the words they used. He tried to say something, to make them back away, or to at least offend them, but he couldn't form words, because he couldn't actually remember any words.

He listened as voices filled his mind instead, and images tried to come up, but they didn't make sense. Nothing made sense, now that he thought about it.

Colors and blurred faces, and muttered and whispered words filled his mind, and then there was a perticually loud voice, "Albedo," the voice said, "Albedo."

Was it calling him? Was something calling him? Or someone, rather?

Suddenly, he realized it was really loud as it spoke again, "Albedo, wake up."

He opened his eyes as he gasped for air that he didn't need. He glanced around what looked like a Plumber prison cell, except for the medical kit, and other medical tools and supplies on the desk by the bed.

Ben was sitting on a chair by his bed, staring at him with a worried look on his face, and that's when Albedo remembered that he'd been given some sort of medicine to put him unconscious.

He felt like he'd been in his dream-like state for only minutes, but of course it probably only seemed that way. He sat up and winced a little at the pain in his side, which helped to further remind him of the situation he was in. A bad one, to say the least.

"You okay?"

Albedo glanced over at Ben who seemed on edge and nodded. He could be better, in the way that Ben had clearly meant, but the situation...was not 'okay'. He didn't want to ask if he'd be staying in the cell, though.

Instead he let his eyes wander over things in the room, and noticed then that he was dressed in black, soft pants and a black T-shirt. They were certainly more comfortable than what he'd been wearing, and he almost felt that he should thank someone for it.

Continuing to glance slowly around the room, taking things in, he noticed a empty glass cup on the desk by the door, and he realized that he was hungry. He'd probably have to wait until whatever time they fed their prisoners, though.

"Don't bother looking for a way to escape," Ben muttered suddenly, and Albedo turned to glare, but Ben continued, "You're not actually being held here."

"Right, I'll just wait until you transfer me before I start thinking of ways to escape," Albedo snapped sarcastically.

Ben looked surprised for a moment before realization crossed his face, then he said in a softer tone, "I mean I don't actually plan on locking you up."

Now it was Albedo's turn to be surprised, "What?"

He couldn't believe Ben said that...surely he wasn't serious? Or maybe it wasn't really Ben?

"I might change my mind, though..." Ben said, "So...don't get your hopes up."

Albedo continued to stare at him in shock, "You mean...the Plumbers don't know?"

Ben nodded a little, "Don't get any ideas, though."

"What about the medics who saw me?"

"They don't know."

Albedo shook his head a little, "I don't understand," he admits.

"What, you? I don't believe that," Ben laughed a little.

Albedo found himself smiling, which helped to confuse him further. How and why were they getting along? Albedo wanted to say something harsh to Ben, but...he just couldn't. He felt hope in his heart.

He looked down for a moment, trying to understand everything, but there were some things that just didn't make sense.

Ben smiled softly, "I don't know what I'm doing, actually. I was just thinking about this a few days ago, that if I had the chance to attempt to...turn you away from the monster that you are, then I-I'd take the chance. I know we weren't friends to begin with...who am I kidding? I hated you... But...it's hard to explain."

Albedo let out a relaxed sigh, feeling as if some of sort of burden had been lifted from his shoulders, "More than ever, I want to change what I've done."

"Don't stay in the past, then."

Albedo couldn't help the small smile on his face.


	2. New Beginnings

**More Than Ever**

 **Chapter 1: New Beginnings**

 **AN: So this did better than I expected, and I will be continuing it. ^^ I'm calling this chapter one, and the first chapter you read is kind of the story before the actual story, call it a prologue I guess.**

 **Also, I will be switching between writing for Escape and writing for More Than Ever, and I will be writing as much as I can for both of them, but as I edit my own stories, and still juggle rl things they won't always get updated. I will try to go for monthly updates at best, or if I'm feeling up to writing instead of gaming/art in my free time I will update more often than monthly, no promises. I won't make you guys wait a year, though, like I did with Escape and so many other fanfictions. So yeah.**

 **Enjoy-**

* * *

Albedo shivered against the cold wind as he was led outside, trying to blink the sleep from his eyes. He supposed this strategy was to make sure he wasn't awake enough to hurt anyone or run away, but he was not warm enough to consider either, anyways. It was freezing and as he was pulled along he could easily see his breath like a puff of clouds in the night, dissipating into nothing.

As if being freezing cold and tired wasn't enough, his right knee was still pretty badly messed up from the week before, and his lower thigh and side were still injured from just the other day, so he really had no plan of running. He didn't even want to. After Ben left, he'd sat in that bed for hours just thinking of what a change would be like. What being free would feel like. Somehow the thought of not living on the streets seemed weird to him. Sleeping on the streets and being in a constant state of running was something he'd grown used to, and in a way, he relied on that. Habits were dangerous like that.

He was shoved in the passenger seat of some vehicle then, letting his earlier thoughts derail as he buckled up silently and glanced towards the open door, watching Ben's partner, Rook, walk by, and probably to the other side to get in. The door's open a moment longer before Ben climbs in through the passenger side, shutting the door without a word.

Rook climbs in on the driver's side then, leaving Albedo in the middle and feeling a little uncomfortable. He glanced towards Ben again, who was staring out his window silently, looking tired and possibly annoyed. Though, wasn't Tennyson always complaining?

Albedo nearly sighs at the curiosity eating at him now. Where were they going? Why was Ben annoyed? Why were they doing this at such a late hour?

They hadn't really said anything the whole time. Albedo was handed a pair of dark jeans and a black long sleeve shirt and red hoodie coat. His colors and everything, the hoodie even had the stupid backwards 10 and design that Albedo preferred. But why give him that? They didn't think it was weird that he dressed as Ben's opposite? They didn't see that that implied they were enemies? After that they had simply pulled him along. He'd been too tired to really think clearly at first, but now he was regretting not questioning them earlier. It'd be weird now, right?

He actually did sigh quietly this time, crossing his arms and appreciating the red and black contrast. Not that he'd tell them that.

"Yes?" Rook asked then, looking as annoyed as Ben. This confused Albedo further, and part of him wondered if it was because of him that they were annoyed.

"Where are we going?" Albedo asked instead, deciding to not voice his other thoughts.

Surprisingly it was Ben who answered, running a head through his brown hair. "Well, Max agreed to give you a chance, but since we don't exactly know how to handle this situation I'm gonna be the one who has to watch you. So you're coming with me."

Albedo glanced back to him again. He supposed that made sense, but he wasn't sure how he felt about the arrangement. He was staying with Ben? How exactly? He pushed he thoughts to the back of his mind, watching the road before them, but suddenly Rook was pulling onto the side of the road. Albedo looked past Rook to see a house that he recognized as Ben's. Or Ben's parents house, rather.

Ben got out then and motioned for Albedo to follow him. Albedo stared at him wearily but stepped out, trying not to hurt his right knee or left thigh too much, then he followed Ben around the van and up to the sidewalk of his house. Ben turned to the van again though and leaned onto the driver's door a bit. "I'll see you later, Rook."

"Be careful, Ben." Rook told him, his voice somehow icy. Ben laughed it off though. "You worry too much. I can handle myself."

"Ben, I am serious." Rook's wild eyes met Albedo's, and something clicked in Albedo's mind. Rook was angry with him because he feared for Ben. Of course. Then was Ben angry at Rook for being concerned?

"Yeah, I realize." Ben muttered angrily, but Rook only frowned at that before quickly saying, "He cannot be trusted."

Ben said something so quietly that Albedo couldn't quite hear it, then he turned away from Rook, briefly meeting Albedo's eyes before going up to the door. Albedo followed him silently, considering running. It'd make the situation easier on everyone, surely. Ben was used to chasing, Albedo was used to running...everybody would be happy. Except Albedo was still cold, fairly tired and in a considerable amount of pain.

He watched as the door opened, Ben's mother greeting Ben happily before hugging him, and Albedo found himself glancing away, down the long, dark road, but just then he heard Ben. "Hey, not going anywhere, are you?"

Albedo glanced towards him and walked closer to stand with Ben on the doorstep, ignoring the weird look Ben gave him. So, no, he wasn't going anywhere. Was that so weird?

"Oh, you must be Albedo..." Ben's mom begins politely, trailing off. Albedo nodded silently, not knowing what to say.

After a moment she moved to let them in, a small smile on her face, but she also looked weary. Ben grabbed Albedo's arm and led the way in, and there was something weird about walking into the house so calmly, even with his used-to-be enemy there that just freaked Albedo out. He wasn't scared easily, but this...trust Ben seemed to have was scary. He had to be faking it.

Albedo took in the rooms and decorations around them as Ben led him into the living room, Ben's mom following. The living room was spacious, with a TV right in front of a coffee table, two soft green couches on different sides of the coffee table, and a small bookshelf was off to the side of one of the couches. The wooden flooring was dark brown color, the walls a mocha-yellow shade. But one of the things that really stood out was the Christmas tree sitting in one corner of the room. It was clear someone was still decorating it, some boxes of different colors and kinds of ornaments off to the side of the tree.

"Ben, you should help with the tree! You have time off right now, don't you?" Ben's mom questioned quickly, going over to the tree and grabbing a red and gold ornament. Albedo stood there feeling out of place as Ben sighed and crossed his arms. "Yeah, kind of...but mom, I need to sort out the whole...Albedo thing."

"What Albedo thing?" Another voice asked. Stepping into the room, Albedo recognized the man as Max Tennyson.

Ben faltered, smiling. "Uh...I just meant, him staying and all."

"It's fine, isn't it? This was your idea." Max said, looking a bit humored.

"Yeah, yeah, it was. Kind of."

There was silence for a moment, and Max quickly spoke up again. "It'll work out. Hey, put him to use and let him help with something." Max joked, smiling now as he glanced at Albedo.

Albedo quickly looked away. "I could just stay out of the way."

Another minute of silence, and Albedo glanced to Ben to see him staring at him, before Ben quickly spoke up. "No, he's right. You could help." Ben mumbled as he gestured towards the tree.

"I really don't-" Albedo started, but Mrs. Tennyson quickly cut in, "If you're going to be staying, you might as well get used to the place, right? You can just look around, if you want, sweetie."

He nodded to this, wandering away from them. Max left the room then, going back to the kitchen where an interesting smell was emnating from. Albedo settled for staring at things in the living room, instead, inspecting their books and decorations until he was bored. He walked back towards the tree then, watching Mrs. Tennyson decorate while Ben would occasionally help, but it was clear that Ben wasn't really into decorating. Albedo couldn't blame him, it looked pretty tedious. And to think this was the hero he'd been fighting against all along. He didn't have much room to speak, though, considering Ben rescued him.

Still, the situation felt awkward to Albedo. Like he was looking through the window at a normal family. A family he just didn't belong in. Was he stepping on their moment by being here, so to speak? He turned away, a heavy feeling in his chest that he couldn't explain, and he quietly headed back through doorway and small hall, going through a different door, past the front room. It didn't take long to find Tennyson's room, on the far side of the house, in a small hall just past the main room. He stepped into the room as the door was already open, the scent of Ben somehow stronger in the small room, with a slight hint of food.

Thankfully the smell of food wasn't really a bad smell. It just smelt of chili-cheese fries, kind of, which really just made Albedo hungry. Tennyson's room was also surprisingly clean. There were some clothes here and there, but aside from his video game controllers, shoes, and a soccer ball, not much was wrong with the room. It was cleaner than it usually was. Albedo frowned at the confusing thought; Ben's room, clean? The very idea of hilarious. Though Albedo again realized that he really didn't have any room to speak. He'd been living on the streets for the last year or so.

He sighed at the thought and decided he'd be nosy. He walked over to Ben's bedside desk, a small lamp and an old Mr. Smoothies cup were the only thing on top of the desk, so Albedo opened a few of the draws, shutting them back when he didn't see anything interesting. He wasn't really looking for anyting, though. He was looking just to look.

He glanced around the room, the pictures and posters reminding him just how much he didn't know Ben. Sure, it was easy to say he did. To feel like he understood, but he was an outsider to Ben's life. An enemy. How would that change? How could it?

Albedo stepped over to a dresser drawer now, looking above it at a bookshelf with action figures lined up inside it. On the dresser itself were books and loose papers and a mess of other things. It kind of looked like someone just tossed everything that was on the floor onto the dresser. And Ben probably did.

Just then he heard talking in the front room, and he moved to the door to listen to a familiar voice greeting Mrs. Tennyson. Gwen Tennyson, he realized. Perhaps visiting due to the upcoming holidays, Albedo supposed. Humans often did that.

Moving closer to the door, Albedo tried to make out the words they were saying, but footsteps grew closer and he straightened up just as someone walked in, standing just in front of Albedo. He glanced up from the pair of sneakers to see Ben staring at him, and Albedo quickly took a step back. "Seriously, chill." Ben mumbled then, walking past him.

Albedo turned to see Ben sit on the bed to take off his shoes. How...normal. "So...I'm going to be living here?" Albedo asked then, feeling uncomfortable, though he wasn't sure why. He knew Ben was a kind person. It was one of Ben's flaws, always willing to help. And yet, Albedo's favorite thing about Ben was how he fought for what he wanted. What he believed. Even when they were more like enemies, and even through all the scheming Albedo did, he still liked Ben for that much.

"Well," Ben looked at him, "It's more like, you'll be going wherever I go. So yeah, for a while you'll be living here. I didn't exactly want this, I was actually hoping they'd just let you go. But we couldn't really work that out. You know, still too many Plumbers who can't take my word for it. They're too stubborn. But Max got them to let me watch you. Some of them still aren't happy with it." Ben made a bit of a face, looking annoyed. He shook his head then, standing up. "And you get to spend the holiday with my family."

"Oh, joy..." Albedo mumbled without really thinking. He quickly glanced at Ben then, "Sorry-"

"It's alright, I'm not really into it that much. Compared to fighting crime, though, it's pretty nice to just hang around with my family."

Albedo nodded, not really understanding him, though. "Um, thanks for working this out, though. For helping me."

Ben nodded back at him. "Just don't betray my trust."

Albedo glanced downward, staring at the floor before meeting Ben's eyes again. "I won't."

Ben stood up then as another person stepped into the room. Gwen. She looked at Ben before looking to Albedo, and maybe it was just Albedo, but he could literally feel the tension in the room. "Hi, Ben." Gwen greeted, walking to him despite how high-alert she still was. Albedo felt her high awareness of the whole room, and he felt like any move he made would be judged thoroughly.

She smiled then, an uncomfortable, almost sad smile, and hugged Ben. After the brief hug Ben smiled back. "Gwendolyn." He greeted in return.

"Albedo." She mumbled then, looking at him now. Albedo simply nodded, trying not to set her off. She stared at him openly, even glancing him over a bit, and he felt like he was being dissected. Ben cleared his throat then, "Look, Gwen, I'm giving him a chance..."

"I know," she snapped lightly, then she moved closer to Albedo, standing directly in front of him, but Albedo didn't step back, meeting her fierce green eyes calmly, "Listen here, if you try anything stupid then I will hurt you. And if you so much as bruise Ben...I will mess you up so badly that you'll wish you stayed in your prison cell."

Ben stepped forward then, pushing her back, "Okay, I think he gets it."

"Well, he better." Gwen mumbled, pulling away.

"So much for Christmas spirit." Ben grumbled then, and Gwen moved to leave the room, saying over her shoulder, "Watch yourself, Ben."

"It's...it's not going to be easy at first." Ben told him, "It might take everyone some time."

Albedo stared at him. "I know. I don't really expect anyone to ever see me differently, but thank you for the chance to at least change who I am."

Ben glanced at him now. "I see you differently, already."

"How?" Albedo asked, watching him.

"I'm not sure. The last couple of times I saw you, before you-went off the map, I could tell something had changed."

Albedo recalled one of the last run-ins they had, staring at each other from a distance, Albedo tired of running, and Ben seemed to being having a bad day, angry about something as he drank his smoothie. In the small parking lot of Mr. Smoothies, neither of them spoke. Albedo finished his fries, and stood, and Ben just watched as he left. Albedo still remembered wondering why Ben didn't chase him. He still remember being thankful to Ben for letting his have his freedom. That was...nearly a year or two ago.

"I guess I have." Albedo mumbled then, "Why didn't you ever try to chase me, the last few times?"

Ben frowned, looking like he was thinking. "It didn't seem like you were doing anything wrong. And weren't you...injured, or something? It seemed like you were."

"I was. I'd gotten into a bad situation with a drunk alien." Albedo said then, with a nod.

"Yeah," Ben paused then, "What have you been doing? Since you disappeared?"

Albedo stared at him, then he shrugged. "Mostly just surviving. Sleeping in back allies...taking whatever I could find. I...I did steal some things." He admitted then, worried of Ben's reaction. But he just nodded.

"I guess you're an adult now, aren't you?" Albedo asked after a moment, giving Ben a subtle once-over. Ben was still very skinny, still pretty lean, but somehow he looked more...mature. Maybe it was his eyes, or the beginning of facial hair on his chin.

"Yeah, I am. That noticeable?" Ben asked in return, glancing downward to inspect himself as if worried.

Albedo couldn't help smirking. "No, I can tell because you're finally starting to act mature."

Ben glared, "Well, I'm sorry, old man."

It was Albedo's turn to glare, rolling his eyes, and Ben laughed, "Don't talk about my age then!"

"Boys," they heard Sandra shout, "Are you two going to join us?"

"Ever celebrated Christmas?" Ben asked then, and Albedo shook his head, "Good, you're in for a treat. And a headache."

Albedo stared at him wearily, but Ben only laughed a bit and grabbed Albedo by his shirt sleeve, leading the way back to the living room where Sandra, Gwen and Kevin were.

Fantastic.


	3. We've All Learned to Crush Our Dreams

**More Than Ever**

 **Chapter 2: We've All Learned to Crush Our Dreams  
**

 **AN: I'm so glad you're all enjoying this!  
**

 **Agafa Shelly - Thanks for the reviews, and the kind words! I'm glad you've been enjoying it! And yeah, being on the run, I'm sure his ways of getting help were limited. I might bring it up more later, with more details on the subject.  
**

 **Liddell101 - Thanks for the continued to support! Glad you're liking it!**

 **Melei - Thank you so much! I hope you continue to enjoy it!**

 **And thanks to everyone reading, too! Your kind words inspire me to keep writing, and sometimes they cheer me up when I'm having a bad day, so thank you so much!**

 **Enjoy-**

* * *

Albedo wasn't sure how long he'd been listening to the idle chitchat of the Tennyson family, but it was starting to get unnerving. All they talked about was family problems, and distant relatives, and Christmas and so on. It was going to drive him insane. Max was somehow off the hook, cooking in the kitchen still, and Albedo was tempted to offer his help. However, he didn't know how to cook, so he stayed silent.

He sank further into the couch as he listened to Mrs. Tennyson talk about a recipe for some sort of dish, saying it tasted delicious and that she planned to make it for their upcoming family gathering, or something to that effect.

Did they honestly have nothing better to talk about? He glanced to Ben, wondering if he was as bored as Albedo was. But Ben, sitting next to him, apparently was busy on his phone. It looked to Albedo like he was texting someone, but he didn't have the nerve to lean over and read what he was typing. That would be crossing a big line, considering they were hardly even friends.

Instead he glanced around the room, feeling out of place again, lonely, even. This wasn't his home. He didn't have one, in fact. He'd been homeless in every sense of the word for a long time now. He sighed quietly, staring at Gwen and Kevin, how comfortable they seemed, even with him being there, then he looked to Mrs. Tennyson, talking, smiling. His eyes went back to Ben, then. He looked so relaxed, so at ease, around his family. Would Albedo ever feel like that? Had he ever?

Azmuth had been like his dad for a long time, or what he thought a dad should be, but after everything that happened, would Azmuth ever forgive him? No. That was delusional. Azmuth didn't forgive mistakes as massive as his had been. He was brought out of his thoughts, though, and he glanced up, looking around. Ben glanced up too, looking confused.

"Ben, I said put your phone away! You should be spending time with your family." Mrs. Tennyson said, looking annoyed and upset at the same time.

"I am!" Ben defended himself, "I'm just multi-tasking."

"Ben, please, you hardly ever spend time with your family like this, and now when you get the chance to, you're going to spend time on your phone instead?" She asked, sitting up straighter in her chair next to the couch with a disappointed look that stung Albedo, even though it wasn't directed at him.

"Yeah, but I'm gonna be here until Christmas and then some." Ben mumbled, frowning at her.

She sighed, shaking her head before letting it drop, "Fine. So Gwen, how's college?"

Albedo glanced away again, then, tired of these boring conversations about all of this human stuff. College this, Christmas that. He almost sighed again as he looked back to Ben, who had put his phone away now. Ben glanced back at him now, staring, so Albedo glanced away, wondering what he saw in Albedo. Did he pity Albedo? Hate him? Albedo wasn't sure he trusted that Ben saw him differently, that he cared. How could he?

"Hey," Ben suddenly said, interrupting their tedious conversation, "Albedo's probably tired after a long day, is it okay if we're excused?"

"Why do you both need to go?" Mrs. Tennyson asked, looking like she already knew Ben was just using Albedo to get out of the situation.

"Well-to show him where everything's at? Ben asked in return, and she sighed but nodded.

Ben led Albedo back to his bedroom then, and Albedo found himself somewhat grateful as he followed Ben. At least he didn't have to listen to a conversation he had no business in listening to. Ben walked over to grab a sleeping mat from his closet then, laying it out, "You want the bed or the sleeping bag?"

"Um, either. I'm used to the ground." Albedo mumbled, not wanting to cause any more trouble than it felt like he already was. Ben glanced at him, frowning with an odd look in his eyes, then he glanced away, finishing laying out the sleeping bag and moving to get the bed ready, "Take the bed then."

"Why?" Albedo asked, watching him.

"Because I said so." Ben said with a smirk, pulling the covers back, "I swear it's clean, my mom washes it when I'm gone for a long time."

"I'm not so much concerned with how clean it is as I am with why you're letting me have the bed, it's clearly more comfortable."

Ben rolled his eyes, "Then you know."

"I don't want your pity." Albedo snapped.

"It's not 'pity'...but it's your first day trying to live a new life. Take the bed, okay? I don't need an angry Albedo to deal with."

Albedo sighed nosily, but walked over to the bed and sat down, watching Ben leave the room. He stared after him with a frown, then he glanced down and started taking off his shoes. Was this even real? Was it just an amazing dream? He didn't trust this at all. He felt like getting his hopes too high would only end in pain. He didn't want anymore pain.

Ben was back then, shutting the door with a first aid kit and washcloth pinned to his side by his arm and a bottle of some sort in his other hand, he put the stuff on the edge of the bed, then he sat next to Albedo. "Still in pain?"

"A little," Albedo mumbled, and Ben opened the bottle, pouring out some pills and handing him two of them.

"Swallow those." Ben told him in a somewhat stern way, which Albedo really didn't like. He was tempted to say some snarky, but he attempted to swallow the white, round circles anyways. He found he really couldn't though. Eventually he managed to swallow one, and Ben got him a glass of water for the other one.

Ben let him know he could dress in any of Ben's clothes, then, until they would eventually go shopping for Albedo. Albedo hated the idea of going shopping. They were the same size, why did it matter? He kept his black T-shirt, changing into a pair of loose black shorts before coming back and sitting down again.

Grabbing the washcloth, Ben leaned towards him and started removing the bandage on his knee, wincing at the blood, while Albedo winced at the pain. "How did you hurt you knee, anyways?"

"Why does it matter?" Albedo asked in return, and Ben gave him an annoyed look. Albedo sighed, "If I need to explain every little scar and bruise then we'll be talking all night."

Ben shrugged, "And what's wrong with that? Might as well get used to it."

Staring at him, Albedo searched for some sort of response, or an excuse, but found he really didn't have any. Ben was right. If Albedo was going to be staying at Ben's side for now on, maybe he should get used to it. But that didn't mean they had to talk about his injuries. He glanced away slowly, looking for something else. His thoughts ended up wandering back to Rook, how cold his voice had been. He cleared his throat slightly, catching Ben's attention, "Your partner seemed pretty upset."

"What? Rook? Don't worry about him." Ben mumbled as he carefully cleaned Albedo's nearly-healed knee. Thankfully Albedo's pain tolerance was pretty high.

"I wouldn't say I'm worried about him," Albedo paused, biting his lower lip at the sharp pain, "But he clearly thinks this is stupid of you."

Ben glanced at Albedo, his usually vibrant green eyes icy, "I don't care what he thinks."

"I didn't say you did." Albedo pointed out, watching Ben's reaction. Ben stared back at him angrily, before glancing downward, sighing loudly. "So why bring it up?"

Albedo looked at his knee as he spoke. "You don't think this is stupid of you?"

His question was almost more of a statement, but it clearly caught Ben off guard, and Albedo winced only a little as Ben pressed into his knee a little too roughly before he stopped all together. Albedo glanced away, listening as Ben cursed under his breath, "No, I don't."

"Then you either are stupid, or a good actor." Albedo mumbled bitterly.

"Why is helping you stupid?" Ben snapped, and Albedo turned to see Ben staring up at him now.

"It's—it's not. I'm not ungrateful. I'm not an idiot, Tennyson. I just don't trust that you're doing this out of the goodness of your heart."

Ben frowned at him, looking half annoyed and half concerned. "What other reason would I have? What else could I be doing here? Helping you just to trick you? That wouldn't make sense either."

Albedo swallowed with difficulty, shaking his head. "Then I must be dreaming."

"Look, I have a soft spot for idiots who need help. That's all this is." Ben shrugged, grabbing the bandages for his knee, "Rook and I...we had disagreement. Because he knows how I can be. Too trusting, or whatever. But I think you're all over-complicating it. So no, I don't agree with Rook. I'm doing things my way. Like I always have."

"I don't believe it's that simple, but I guess in the circumstances, it really doesn't matter. I owe you my life anyways."

Ben sighed, "You don't owe me your life. You could give me a little trust, though."

Albedo stared at him now, frustrated, "But why now? Why so suddenly? Just because it's been so long since you've seen me? Because I 'seem' different? Or because I was hurt and homeless?"

"Well, I didn't know where you were before—"

"You let me go the last times you saw me. You could have changed everything then but you didn't. You let me continue running. So why now? Why is it so different this time?"

Ben stared back at him, then he quickly glanced back to Albedo's now bandaged knee. "Listen, the last few times...it wasn't like you really stayed long enough to chat. And at the time, I hadn't decided what I wanted to do about you. I wanted to help, I just...hadn't been sure how. I only realized while thinking over this past year that if you continue running you'd never really be free. But then I couldn't find you again. You were the one that disappeared completely."

"So...you just decided that you wanted to help me somehow? Why? I've done nothing to earn your concern or your help."

Ben stood then, sitting next to him again, clearly prolonging it. After a few long seconds he finally spoke again, "I decided that I wanted to help you when you gave up the fight. You had stopped everything, and then you completely disappeared. I knew then that you weren't hiding. You were done. And...as long as you're not fighting me, I'm supposed to help you. It's my job."

Albedo scoffed slightly, "Why? Because you're a hero?"

"And because you're my problem. I could've done some things differently. I could've avoided making things worse. You're not the only one with regrets. With mistakes. You're just...the only one nobody wants to forgive."

Albedo stared at him, a little terrified of Ben's honesty. But for whatever reason, he felt better. It was like when Ben first told him he could change. He felt relaxed again, like more weight was taken from him. And he wasn't sure why. Clearly what Ben was saying was ridiculous. Ben's mistakes probably weren't as massive as his own. And even if they were, he was a well-known hero, he would be forgiven easily. Albedo? He was a sad excuse for a genius. He was a hero gone wrong. No one in their right mind trusted him. Except possibly Ben.

"Our situations are far too different." Albedo said instead, ignoring the happiness he felt when Ben frowned at that. So maybe he did at least trust Ben's stupidity, if nothing else.

"Because your mistakes are on a larger scale? Yeah, I know. I know why no one else will forgive you...or, why it'll take them a while. But I'm different. I've learned a lot over the years. And I'm willing to give people chances, even if sometimes it's not the right decision, it's still the decision I believe is right."

Albedo nodded slightly, "You're going to die because of it one day."

"Yeah, probably. But I know it won't be at your hands," Ben smirked, but then his smirk fell away, and he turned more serious again, "How's your leg? Where the ice grazed you?"

Albedo looked at his upper leg, just above his right knee that was now bandaged. "It's alright. I don't think it's as bad."

Ben nodded, peeling the bandages away anyways to replace it with new ones. This time Albedo didn't say anything. He almost felt guilty for accusing Ben of being dishonest. And of course he knew it was ridiculous, but it felt like Ben was being dishonest. With all the things that had happened this year, how could this truly be real? He sighed, "Thank you, Ben. For helping me. For...seeing me differently."

"Does this mean you finally pinched yourself?" Ben asked playfully with a smile. Albedo tried not to smile, but in the end he did, and looked down instead. So maybe Ben's stupidity was also infectious.

Albedo was silent and still until Ben was done bandaging his leg, then Ben leaned forward to lift Albedo's shirt up, looking at the place where the ice dagger had pinned Albedo to the wall before moving back. "Lay down?"

Albedo did as he was told, letting Ben re-bandage the particularly bad injury, despite the pain. So he did trust Ben to some degree, he decided. He trusted that Ben wouldn't hurt him. Or at least, never on purpose, unless he thought he had to.

But then did that mean he did think all of this was real? Maybe he did. He couldn't be sure. He knew that this felt real, the pain felt real. Ben seemed real. He wanted it to be real.

"Hey, you okay?" Ben asked suddenly, and Albedo glanced at him to see him re-bandaging the injury. If this was real, what did that mean? That he really was free of his past? Or at least slightly more free? He had trouble trusting that. But maybe it didn't matter. Maybe...he'd let himself get his hopes up. Why did it matter? Sure, he would be broken if he learned it was all in his head, but...he didn't care. He would let himself enjoy whatever this was. He would trust Ben. Because it didn't matter.

"Hey? Albedo?"

"Sorry, what is it?"

Ben frowned at him. "You okay?"

Albedo nodded, staring back at him. "Yeah, better than that."

"Oh. Okay. You just...seem a bit out of it." Ben mumbled with a shrug.

"I think I'm just tired," Albedo offered as an excuse, and Ben nodded, standing up and moving the stuff some the bed. Albedo watched him leave, then he stared at the ceiling. There was no way he made this all up in his head, right? He sighed, almost sitting up to get the covers before wincing. He glanced up as Ben walked in, though, coming back over. Ben gave him an odd look, pushing him back down by his arm, "Just rest," he told him, pulling the covers up for him.

Albedo nodded, shutting his eyes for a moment. But what if he woke up and nothing was real? What if...it was all a dream? He blinked, glancing to where Ben was, now dressed in looser clothes. Ben didn't even glance at him as he shut the bedroom door and turned off the light, like it was normal. This was...too nice. It couldn't be real. Because nothing like this could ever happen to Albedo.

He sighed. "Ben."

"Yeah?" Ben answered back carefully.

Albedo wasn't sure if it was because he was tired, or what, but he continued anyways with his strange train of thought, "This is...real, right?"

"What?"

"It doesn't feel real to me."

Ben frowned at him from across the room, sitting up now, "Dude...sleep. And if you wake up feeling weird, wake me up, okay?"

Albedo swallowed with difficultly, but nodded. "Alright."


	4. Keep your feet on the ground

**More Than Ever**  
 **Chapter 3: Keep your feet on the ground, When your head's in the clouds**  
 **AN: Sorry for another long wait, I struggled with some details in this one and had to think of what I'm doing with some future plot stuff, but I'm now working on the 4th chapter. I wanted this out as soon as possible though, hence it being a kind of shorter chapter (I also like how the end of this chapter looks, seemed like a good bit to leave at).  
**

 **Thanks again to everyone faving/following/reviewing or even just reading! Also for the guest who asked, Albedo is back to looking as old as Ben is. Sorry for the long AN.**

 **Warning, this chapter begins with some mildly gross/violent details.**  
 **Poem by my friend ACarouselOfDreams based on More Than Ever.  
**

 **-Escape Of My Past-**  
 **It's hard to believe that you trust me this much**  
 **after everything that I've done**  
 **and you believe there's a chance for change**  
 **I don't want to get my hopes up**  
 **but I don't want this to be just a dream**  
 **I want to escape, my regrettable past**  
 **and be free and now**  
 **more then ever**  
 **I hope I can trust you**

 **Enjoy-**

* * *

Albedo did wake up feeling weird. The room was spinning and his throat felt scratched up and gross at the same time. He sat up abruptly then, but the room was pitch black, and as he tried to stand he heard the distinct sound of chains. He pulled at his wrists, the cold feeling that wrapped around them sending chills down his spine. Handcuffs.

"Ben!" He called out, regretting it immediately as the pain in his throat worsened, and the gross feeling grew until he realized it was some sort of liquid. Or something similar to liquid, at least, but it felt more like slime. He tried to swallow it back, but suddenly he tasted iron and gagged, spitting it out.

Footsteps approaching him distracted him from thinking more about his throat, though. Suddenly there was a bright light on his face and he squinted up, unable to see for a moment, but his eyes soon adjusted to see Ben standing there, smirking. Albedo gasped at the sight, confused as Ben crossed his arms in some sort of sick satisfaction.

Albedo looked away then, his eyes landing on the crimson sludge on the ground before him. Blood and...hopefully not his internal organs, but who could say?

His eyes burned at the sight and his stomach churned. Of course none of that happiness from before was real. "Why mess with me, Ben? Why get my hopes up like this?" He asked his, his voice breaking just as his strength once had, so long ago.

"Because everyone likes watching you suffer."

Albedo blinked and tried to keep whatever pride he had left.

"Albedo."

Albedo blinked, staring at the unfamiliar bed sheets through blurred vision. He struggled to recall the last part of his dream, but to no avail. He was sure he had said something else, something snarky and harsh.

"Hey."

He glanced up then to Ben who was sitting on the edge of the bed, frowning. Crap. Albedo quickly sat up, wincing and regretting his decision as soon as he did. Ben put a hand on his arm then, "Careful, injuries don't heal overnight."

As if crying in his sleep wasn't bad enough, now Ben was humiliating him by trying to tell him what to do? Or worse, trying to comfort him? Albedo pulled away, needing some sense of normalcy. He stood slowly and wiped at his eyes with his wrists quickly. He wasn't going to be pathetic. He was stronger than this. "I'm fine, Tennyson."

"You know you can just call by my first name, right?" Ben asked then.

Albedo barely glanced at him, noticing that Ben was already dressed in his usual blue jeans, black t-shirt and instead of the green jacket he was known for he was wearing a green hoodie coat.

"And you know I don't care what you say I can do, right?" Albedo asked harshly.

Ben frowned at him, and Albedo looked away. "You only use my last name to distance yourself." Ben said it like it was a fact. That just annoyed Albedo even more, though.

He went over to the closet, deciding to ignore Ben. But Ben had other plans, "Nothing's wrong with having bad dreams. Everyone has bad dreams."

Albedo shook his head, grabbing his black jeans from the other day and trying to get dressed quickly. "Yes, thank you, _Ben_ , I'm just so glad you explained that to me, really." Albedo said sarcastically, looking through Ben's jackets, which were mostly his green ones, but soon managed to find a plain black one before turning to glance at Ben, who rolled his eyes before suddenly smirking.

"What?" Albedo asked in annoyance, but Ben shook his head. "Mm, nothing." And yet he was still smiling. Albedo sighed, watching him and waiting for some sort of explanation. After less than a minute Ben caved, pointing to Albedo's red jacket, left forgotten on bed from where he took it off last night.

"So what?" He asked, more confused than he had been, but Ben smiled. "You chose to not wear your normal color."

"Really? I didn't-I just didn't think to." Albedo grumbled, crossing his arms.

"Mhm. Or maybe you just don't really like what it symbolizes."

"You're an idiot." Albedo said, but there was no malice. He stated it like it was a simple fact, and Ben only smiled in return. It wasn't his intended affect, but he found he couldn't be angry with him. Though he still felt strange from the dream he had.

"Anyways, let's go. Breakfast is nearly done now." Ben headed for the door then, but looked at Albedo over his shoulder. Waiting for him.

Albedo hesitated as he tried to think of a way out. He needed space, and this-everything, was too much. Ben being so weird...so kind towards him, his family, being here, that dream. It was all too much. "I'll be there in a moment."

"Oh, okay. You alright?" Ben gave him a strange look then, and Albedo quickly nodded. "I'm fine."

Ben still didn't look convinced, but thankfully he walked off, leaving Albedo alone in his thoughts, which was both a good thing and a bad thing. Well, maybe that was putting it lightly. He found himself flooded with more of his thoughts he had been having at night, thoughts he would rather lock away and forget ever existed.

 _This is just a joke._

 _This isn't real._

 _What if it's a trap. An elaborate trap._

 _Maybe I'm in a coma and this is all a strange dream._

 _What if this isn't even Ben? Could be someone else tricking him, surely._

 _What if that dream was reality?_

He shook his head. Somehow he was sitting on the edge of the bed now, bent forward, his head in his hand. He was going to give himself a migraine. All of these thoughts were...well, ridiculous at best. Insane, even. But what if he was going insane? It's not like an insane person knows they're insane. It's possible, and would actually make more sense than most of his "theories", if you could call them that.

No, if he were insane he wouldn't be wondering if he were insane...probably. But this wasn't a dream, it was too real. He could feel things, could feel pain...it was much too real. He ran a hand through his hair, exhaling quietly.

He was being irrational. Clearly he had a lot to take in, and it was affecting him, that was all it was. It was the obvious conclusion and the only one that made any sense. The only real problem was if he let his thoughts spiral out of control, and then he wouldn't be the only one wondering if he were insane.

And, speaking of people wondering if he's insane, the sound of footsteps had him quickly standing up, hoping that he didn't look too awful. There wasn't much he could do to fix that, if he did. Well, aside from simply hiding, but he didn't think that would go over well.

Instead he walked forward to the doorway, spotting Ben who almost ran into him. "Hey, been a little bit. You sure you're okay?"

"Just feeling...a bit ill." It wasn't entirely a lie.

Ben nodded, still looking concerned, and maybe a bit sympathetic. "Well...there's breakfast, if you decide you feel like eating."

He watched Ben turn away then, and he still hesitated before deciding that he was actually too hungry to fake being that ill. He still headed to the bathroom first though, and still didn't leave until he washed his face a bit. He didn't want it to be obvious that he had been on the verge of crying, even if he hadn't actually.

Looking into the mirror there did nothing to help him feel better though. No, it only made him feel worse, but he couldn't really decide why. A year or so ago, he would have been left with this...empty feeling, just from seeing his own reflection. A feeling of not being whole, or like something wasn't right. It wasn't something that was easy to describe, but he knew why. He had always known why, because that was obvious. He wasn't human.

But now?

He swallowed hard, his red eyes sweeping over his reflection with uncertainty, landing on the features of a face that wasn't his. A face that belonged to Ben. His chin, his ears, his nose, his lips. His eye color wasn't Ben's, but it wasn't really his either. When had his eye color become his? When did this face became his? Really his?

This time he swallowed hard to avoid gagging, but a hand flew to his mouth anyways. He didn't feel it, this time. Sure, it wasn't him, he wasn't human...but this time he didn't feel like he was merely wearing a shell, or not like how it was before. This face wasn't a mask. But it was worse. Worse than feeling like this wasn't really him, like this wasn't his body, or his face, or his hands. He didn't feel much of anything, staring at his reflection. No, he wasn't wearing a flesh suit. He wasn't even here anymore. He was a ghost, now, wasn't he?

A ghost staring back at the body that he remained in. A ghost, that had no attachment to any specific body or person.


End file.
